Dwight Howard is still really good, but the NBA is done with him. ✅ Check out PrizePicks: https://bit.ly/PrizePicksMJ2K Promo Code: MJ2K
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Yes Dwight was out in Taiwan dropping Wilt Chamberlain numbers shooting 10 threes and running pick and rolls.
Any NBA player can go crazy in other non-euro leagues, but how could Dwight just start on a championship team 2 years ago to now being black listed in the NBA? Despite Dwight claiming he’s in the best shape of his career, no team even showed interest. It’s an ugly truth that has nothing to do with age, it showed throughout his whole career, and a lot to do with why he didn’t make the NBA top 75
Yes, Dwight coming in the league was hyped. He’s only the 3rd player ever to go #1 overall straight from high school. The other two? The physical specimens known as LeBron James and Kwame Brown…
He was All NBA in his 3rd year and by his 4th season finished 5th in MVP voting averaging 20.7 points, 14.2 rebounds, 2 blocks on 60% from the field. The defense was becoming dominant and the free throws were horrible. Hence Shaq.
Some jokes and superman dunk contests later and by the 2009 season, Dwight established himself as a bona Fide superstar. He won defensive player of the year averaging 2.8 blocks a game, lead an undermanned Magic team.
All this on an offense designed around Dwight posting up, getting doubled and kicking to shooters at 23 years old. When you look at the best players in 2009, obviously Kobe, LeBron, but Dwight was unarguably in the top 10 in the league, the Magic had the best defense in the league. Eventually the Magic lose the NBA finals. Good looks for my Lakers. But Dwight kept improving after that Finals run finishing 2nd in MVP in 2011 behind Derrick Rose. He won 2 more defensive player of the years making it 3 DPOYs in a row!
The saga reached the peak a month before the 2012 playoffs. Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters that Dwight wanted him fired. Mid interview, Dwight stepped in and awkwardly tried to embrace SVG, who wasn’t having it. Dwight later called it his “worst day of his life”.
A couple days later Dwight suffered a back injury that caused him to miss the end of the season. The Magic had another first round exit and SVG was fired. Dwight the “coach k**” requested a trade anyways. He also took some shots at his old teammates calling them ["team full of people no one wanted."](http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/03/04/dwight-howard-opens-up-to-cbs2-kcal9-kristine-leahy-about-criticism-and-future-with-lakers/#.UTTFd6GLmm0.twitter)
Just 5 games into the season, the Lakers fired head coach Mike Brown and hired Mike D’Antoni who runs everything through guards. At the same time, Dwight demanded low post touches. He didn’t want to adapt. But D’Antoni also had a bias towards the 38 year old Steve Nash because they had played together on those MVP Suns years. Man was dealing with a pinched nerve but D’Antoni wanted to run a pick and roll offense through Nash and Kobe. **Make it make sense.**
Dwight was visibly frustrated on the court and wouldn’t run some of the playcalls. But D’Antoni also didn’t wanna listen to Dwight. In fact, Dantoni treated Dwight and Gasol like an expensive role players…
So when Dwight chose to leave the Lakers after 1 season even though he could have had an etra $30 million from them. He was tired of all the media narratives, coaching debacles, he created an enemy out of the largest fan base in the league. And y’all know how delusional Lakers fans can be*)*. Howard’s contract ended and free agency began.
Harden recruited Howard, Daryl Morey, stat god, believed that Howard was the missing piece for their inside out game. Yes, stats and analytics was the reason the Rockets signed 28 year old Howard in his “prime”. **How the narrative would change.**
To most executives, Dwight simply wasn’t worth the potential headache.
You telling me this guys still on a team over Dwight Ok the reason why Udonis Haslem is still on the team is because of the locker room presence he brings as well as taking care of your players. Dwight has burned bridges at nearly every team he’s been on.
So Dwight heard a variety of reasons, we aren’t signing anyone over 30 even though they added Patrick Beverley or we need a big that can shoot which fair point.
So all these highlights in Taiwan might not mean anything, but there’s a whole career worth of play and stats that show Dwight at bare minimum is a very capable role player, but his whole career also shows that he’s continued to hurt himself and been one of the most hated players in the NBA. **I still think he should be in the league at the minimum.**
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